18 posts tagged “fertility”

I think I managed to flummox my doctor yesterday.  For the first time ever, I asked him a question about my condition, and he sat there thinking and staring out into space for just long enough to make me want to crack a joke or something to break the silence.  (If you know me at all, you know that I'm not a big fan of lulls in conversation.  It was KILLING me to let the man think, but I did it!)

After all that thought, he told me that he's going to call a fertility specialist to whom he normally refers people, to see what suggestions he has to offer.  (Since my insurance won't cover anything fertility related, I won't be going to see the fertility specialist myself.  I'm tickled pink to think that he'll offer suggestions to my doc just as a professional courtesy.)

In the meantime, he scheduled my post-coital exam for the day I'm due to ovulate. (Let's hear it for my cycle that is so regular that you could set your watch by it!)  Here's how cool my doctor is, when we figured out which day I'll be ovulating, I grimaced because I thought it was the same day I was scheduled to chaperone a field trip with Simon.  My doc said we could *try* to do the exam the day before, but that it might not work.  I told him I could just come in on the right day, then drive myself later and meet up with the class.  He asked me what time we were supposed to leave; and when I told him 8:30 am, he told me that he would schedule me at 7:50 a.m.--before his first appointment.  The exam would take ten minutes, and I should be at the school in time to ride the bus with the rest of the class.  The woman who scheduled me said that he had just agreed to meet with a pharmaceutical rep at that same time, but he said he'd blow off the rep for me.  (Which cracked me up.)    When I got home, I checked my calendar, and the field trip is actually two days later, so I called back and rescheduled my exam for 10:20--so it will be much easier for everyone to get to school before my appointment.

I also asked him if he thought the tiny estrogen patch was what caused my period to be so different this month, and he said he thinks I might have actually had a very early miscarriage.  Since I never thought I was pregnant to begin with, I'm not really any more upset than I usually am by not being pregnant.  I hope it doesn't continue to happen.

Well, let's just say we won't be expecting any special Christmas gifts this year.  Of course I wasted a pee stick, and of course I started shortly thereafter.  I had completely forgotten that my doc had given me a tiny estrogen patch last month, so I have to wonder if that's why things have been so different this go-round.

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving not being mental for my first period in a long time.  I actually volunteered at Simon's school all day yesterday, grocery shopped, and then went to a meeting at church last night.  All on the first day of my period, and all without going mental!  Not one crying jag and not one anxiety attack!  Let's hear it for better living through modern medicine!

I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow morning, and I imagine we'll be scheduling the formerly-dreaded "post-coital exam" that I've managed to talk him out of for the past two months.  I told Steve that when he gives a sample, at least he can just hand them the cup and run.  For this exam I'm just stuck there, feet in stirrups, feeling awkward and embarrassed.  We've tried for a few more months with nothing happening, so now I finally feel like I'm ready to start moving forward with some different tests and treatments. 

You don't want to believe that there might be something else wrong, so you keep trying the old fashioned way; but eventually you get to the point where you realize that you need to start doing something different.  Dr. B. said that they can find out a lot from this exam.  We'll know if I have an "inhospitable environment" a.k.a. sperm killing cervical mucus.  Dr. B. also referred to it as a "poor man's semen analysis", as they'll also do an ersatz sperm count on the sample they take.  If there are no swimmers, they'll know it's not me.  If there are lots of expired swimmers, chances are either my "environment" is too acidic, or I'm producing anti-swimmer antibodies or something.  If everything looks fine, then we might need to take another look at the possibility that I might have endometriosis.  (I don't have the classic symptoms of endometriosis, but that doesn't guarantee that I don't have it.) 

Depending on what we find out, we might look into laparoscopic endometriosis surgery, or we might start looking into inter-uterine inesmination (IUI).  IUI is where I go in for an ultrasound to make sure I'm ovulating, then they take a sample from Steve, spin out all of the best swimmers, and then insert the gold medal winners directly into my uterus to do their thing.  I was afraid the IUI was going to be really spendy, but I asked and found out that it's only going to cost $312.  (The other things can be covered by insurance--Yay!) 

I'm trying not to look too far into the future, because if these options don't work, we can't afford the really spendy options like IVF.  Plus, I still question at what point I'll get the picture that maybe we're not supposed to have another child.  Simon is an amazing kid, and all of this makes me cherish him all the more.  I still want him to have a brother or sister to love and alternately irritate and cherish as they grow old together.

I'll of course keep you posted.

Ok, if you're keeping track (which I know you're not, but humor me) you know that tomorrow is the dreaded "cycle day 28".  Except I really don't feel like tomorrow is the day my special visitor is scheduled to arrive.  I'm not crampy, I'm not mental (well, not PMS quality mental), and I don't seem to have any other typical symptoms I have by now--which is of course making me mental.

I'm dying to pee on a stick, but I know that for the past several months I've been just sure that this month will be the month; and each month has decidedly NOT been the month.  I hate to waste the $8 on a pee stick when I will probably know by tomorrow if I am or I'm not.

Of course, if I *am*, the special delivery will very well happen under a Christmas tree.  Yup, the special day would be Christmas or shortly thereafter.  (I have ALWAYS said I didn't want to doom a child with a Christmas birthday, so this will probably be the month.)  Don't get me wrong, I'll be grateful for my little gift no matter when it arrives; but if it *is* Christmas, don't be surprised to be invited to half birthday parties from now on. 

If tomorrow does bring the unwanted visitor, I imagine we'll have to start looking into the artificial insemination.  If I understand it right, they'll want to have a look-see around the time I ovulate this next time; and then do the insemination the month after that.  If it takes, that would make the gift arrival date around late February.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

For the past couple of days, I've been all wound up like an eight day clock. (A favorite phrase of my mom's.)

I've been dealing with mom's Medicaid application and trying to clean up some IRS messes over the past few days.  Normally I would be able to do both without having a nutty.  Yesterday and today I've been completely on edge about every little thing.  It's to the point where my heart's been racing during the day and I've been having nightmares at night.  I'm assuming it's a stress/Clomid combo, because the only other things that cause these symptoms for me are pseudoephedrine and caffeine; and I've avoided both lately.

Fingers crossed that the 9,432nd round of Clomid is the charm.

Well, it seems that I've settled down since my somewhat frantic fertility post last week.  (It's amazing what chemically enhanced hormones can do to a person, huh?)

I had another appointment with my OB today.  I told him that I had really expected to get pregnant last month, and that there was much sobbing and gnashing of teeth when I found out that I wasn't.  We discussed a few options, and we stuck with the idea of just continuing the old fashioned way for one more month.  (He accused me of developing an eye twitch when he mentioned the more invasive/embarrassing test that I talked him out of last month, but I swear my contact was just dry. lol)

If we don't get pregnant this month, I'm probably going to go ahead with the test to find out what's going on.  He said that depending on the results of that test, we might want to think about artificial insemination. 

The pragmatic me asked about cost at the desk on my way out.  I found out that they can bill for the test in such a way that it doesn't seem like a fertility thing, so insurance would cover it.  The insemination (IUI) would cost about $310 out of pocket, but that includes an ultrasound and all of the steps to get everything ready.  I also found out that they'd break it up into payments if we needed them to.  (I told Steve I think we should start putting back $100 from each check so we'll have it waiting if we need it for that purpose.)

In other (completely unrelated) news, it seems somebody's poisoned the waterhole!  Steve threw a load of jeans in the washer last night, and about midway through the wash our water went off!  I was already asleep, but he said that the water stayed off for a few hours.  He told me about it this morning, but I didn't think much about it until I saw a notice in the paper that our little town of Bumblyburg is under a boil order until Saturday at the earliest.

I've never been under a boil order before.  It isn't nearly as exciting as you'd think.  I'm just glad I happened to read the newspaper online this afternoon or we wouldn't have known.

Unfortunately we can't do any laundry because the water's orange, and I don't think you're supposed to wash dishes in water that is potentially hazardous, so I guess I won't be doing either of those things tomorrow.  Rats darn.

I heard yesterday that Kroger is now going to offer a list of generic prescriptions for $4 and $9--much like the list WalMart's pharmacy has.  I just checked their list online, and I can now get my generic Clomid for the same $9 price that I'd been getting it from Wally--but I'm now able to avoid the WalMart pharmacy!  Whooooooooooo-hooooooooo!!!!!!!

Edited to add--
I ran to Kroger this evening to have my prescription filled.  I was the only person in the pharmacy area.  I gave the friendly pharmacist my script, then I ran over and grabbed a half gallon of milk. By the time I came back with my milk, the prescription was ready.  I paid for both things, and was out of the store in less than five minutes!! 
It was a beautiful thing!

I couldn't let Pancake Tuesday pass without remark, since my very blog is named in this saint's honor!  ;)

Actually, I'm not even making pancakes today.  I overslept this morning, so poor Simon had a cereal bar for breakfast.  They are serving pancakes at our church tonight though.  Steve will be running late to get over there from work, so he won't have time to swing by and pick me up.  He's going to try to get Simon over there early enough to get some pancakes, but Steve'll have to get right to work on setting things up for children's choir.  That should be done by 6:30 so I'm planning to have dinner ready at 7:00 tonight.  I'm not making pancakes for dinner though.  I have stuff in the fridge that needs to be used before it turns south, so I'm finally making the Parmesan Crusted Chicken topped with lemon dressed greens and broccoli and bow ties on the side.  I'm actually glad I'm making it today.  It's lemony, and kind of springy, so it'll be good for today since it's kind of warm and springy outside today.  (It's only 9:00 am, and it's already 56 degrees.)

I can't believe how warm it is outside!  We actually had thunderstorms last night.  It's obnoxiously humid, but I'm still considering opening the windows and airing out the house this afternoon if we get above 60.  It seems so springlike, that I'm actually feeling motivated to get some stuff done around the house!  (And no, I'm not nesting. Flo is officially visiting. I'm sending Steve to pick up my Clomid this afternoon.)

This house is a disaster area right now.  It started when I spent more time over at my mom's house cleaning everything out, and I've never caught up.  It is truly driving me nuts having my house this messy, but I've been feeling overwhelmed.  (I'm sure the hormone roller coaster that I've been no hasn't helped.)   I've actually had days when I just sat here because I couldn't begin to figure out where to start.  It's sad.  Fortunately, I'm feeling this awesome, spring weather motivation today, so I'm going to try to take advantage of it!  I might start out with some FlyLady chaos cleaning.  (Where you just move from room to room and spend 15 minutes at a time in each room.)  The best part about that method is when you're done you at least see some progress all over the place.  Wish me luck!

I just got back from the doctor, and I don't really know any more than I did before I went.  My beloved aunt hasn't arrived, but Dr. B. said that the Clomid could have made my cycle longer so I should just hang out for another day or two.  I got a negative test on Saturday, but I still didn't imbibe during the Super Bowl just in case.

Steve went with me because his school had a fog delay this morning.  I like it when Steve goes, because Dr. B. goes into a lot more detail when Steve's there.  (I think Dr. B. assumes that I already know and understand everything, but explains things a little more throughly for Steve.)   When I get test results back, the nurse usually calls and says if things are ok or not.  Today, Dr. B. went into a lot more detail on the results on a few of our tests, which was good.

We got the obligatory "Advanced Maternal Age" talk today.  Dr. B. told us that he doesn't think there's much to worry about, but he's obligated to tell us about the risks of having a baby after the age of 35.  He said that if it was his wife having a baby at age 37, he wouldn't be all that worried about it.  Since I'm healthy, they'll just keep an eye on me to make sure I don't have any problems.  He said that we can also test for chromosomal issues if I want to, but that most people don't bother.  My mom was 38 when she had me, and I turned out mostly ok.  (Mostly.)  Anyway, that was a real upper. 

Also a big upper--Steve pulled a muscle in his back over the weekend, so he's been in agony for the past couple days.  I feel bad because I'm sure moving heavy things at my mom's house last week didn't help.   Our basement has some water in it this morning, so Steve went down to move some things around to make sure the water had a straight path to the sump pump.  I don't think he realized it, but he was gasping and groaning while he was moving things around.  I suggested taking lots of Advil, and getting some ThermaCare wraps.  Hopefully he'll feel better by the end of the day.

Hopefully I will, too.  I'm cranky.

We had an *interesting* day yesterday.  It started normally enough, although we had gotten a cold front and gone from light jacket weather the night before to an arctic chill by morning.  Steve went out to warm up the car, and it would crank but wouldn't start.  It had been working just fine the night before when we went to the grocery, so we figured that maybe we had some condensation in the gas line that had frozen or something.  Steve walked (in the -9 windchill) over to the gas station, and bought some gas line stuff.  We put that in, and then pushed it farther down the drive so it would be sitting in the sun.  No dice, it warmed up a little but still didn't start so we had to call a mechanic.  The tow truck came about an hour later and got it started, but told Steve that it looked like the fuel pump was going out.  The good news is that Steve was able to drive over to the station and save the tow charge!   We talked to the mechanic throughout the day, and he asked us if the gas gage had been working properly.  It hadn't.  We had to pay attention to how many gallons of gas we had put in, and then kept track of how many miles we should have been able to go before we'd need gas again.  It wasn't as much fun as it sounds.

Eventually we got an estimate for fixing it, and it will most likely cost us around $850 to fix.  Ouch!    The fuel pump is inside the tank with the gas sensor.  They have to replace the entire tank, and the part alone is $600.  It should be done today.  The good news?  The gas gage will be fixed when we get it back.  No more gas math!  Yay! 

I also got a call about the job that I had interviewed for last week.  I didn't get it.   I can't remember if I posted about the interview or not, but I had called about a church secretary job here in town.  I had what I thought was a decent interview, but I think they decided to hire a member of their church.   The guy did tell me that he and the pastor really enjoyed talking to me about church growth, and that they wish they had another job to offer me in that area.  He also kept saying that they felt that God was really going to use me based on our long talk about church marketing.  He actually said that after our interview, he and the pastor sat there for an hour and debated the points I made.  His positive comments were nice to hear.

Steve got a ride with a coworker to work this morning, and we called the mother of a classmate of Simon's to take him to school.  Simon's classmate's mom seems to have forgotten him though, so he's home again today.  When I called the school, I spoke with the aide in Simon's class.  She told me that half of Simon's class was out sick yesterday, and his teacher is out sick today.  Maybe I'm glad Simon has been home so he hasn't been marinating in all of those germs.  There's actually a decent chance that Simon will be home again tomorrow because they're predicting a lot of snow tonight.   We should be ok because his aide said she'd bring Simon's schoolwork he's missed over tonight on her way home from school.  (I always forget that she lives a few blocks away.  She said the next time Simon needs a ride, she'd be glad to pick him up.  I'll have to remember that!)

Throughout everything, I'm feeling very PMS-like.  I had a blood test last Monday, and the nurse told me that I did ovulate, but with the stress we went through finishing everything at my mom's house, I make no promises.  The upside of not being pregnant is that I am so going to have a much needed stiff drink--or three.

My goal for today is to get everything cleaned up and wash blankets and stuff in case we lose power tonight.  They're saying we should get four to eight inches of snow, but it's possible that we'll get some ice before the snow starts.  I've lived through a week of no power after an ice storm, so I always try make sure the laundry is caught up when they start predicting ice.  Fortunately, my laundry is mostly caught up, but I need to wash blankets and towels.  It'll be nice to have it done even if we don't get any ice. 

I promised Simon that he could play Webkinz on the basement computer while I'm working down there.  I figure he can play a math or word game and it will *almost* be like school.  Ok, maybe not. 

And I am SOOOOO glad!  I'm finally starting to feel normal and not freak out about every little thing.  (Not freaking out is very good, btw.)

I also finally figured out that the chromium supplement that I was taking was what was causing my insomnia.  Since then, I've slept through the night every single night.  (Sleep is very good, also.)

We got everything out of my mom's house, and found a place for her dog.  Now I have tons of clothes and stuff from her house in my house.  I didn't want to get rid of them because she still needs clothes, but I have no idea what she can still wear.  Nothing in her house was sorted in any way, shape or form; so I have quite a bit to deal with.  Because of that, I've been down in my basement trying to get it cleaned out.  After going through my mom's stuff, I decided that I can't keep all of the crap we have down there for someone else to have to deal with.  Plus, if you've read my blog at all, you know that cleaning out my basement has been a goal of mine ever since I moved in here.  (Since the basement was already full when we got here.)  I have to admit that I'm pretty overwhelmed though.  I spent two hours down there yesterday, and I actually made a pretty good dent.  I can't wait to be able to set up an area where I can sew and do scrapbooking and crafts.  I don't think I've EVER had all of my supplies in one place and organized where I can actually find them.  It'll be like crafter's heaven!

On the fertility front, I have to go in for a blood test on Monday morning so they can test my progesterone levels.  I have no idea if we've conceived this month or not.  I took the Clomid and have been really watching my blood sugar, but we've also had a lot of stress so who knows.

My immediate plan for the weekend is to spend some quality time with Simon.  He's spent a lot of time in the past week or two being shuffled around while Steve and I worked to clean out my mom's house.  I can tell that he's a little worse for the wear from the neglect.  The DVR taped two new episodes of "Chuck" last night, so I see an evening of pizza, snuggling, and "Chuck" on the horizon for tonight.

I have to say, though, that our friends are wonderful people!  Our friend's Tracy and Mike took Simon all day last Saturday.  In the morning they went roller skating, and in the afternoon Simon and Preston went to a classmate's birthday party where they played laser tag.  Then on Sunday, we took Simon over to spend some time with our friend Lynn.  (They watched movies, played with army men, ate lots of snacks, and generally just hung out.)  Then Monday was a school holiday, so Simon went roller skating with Tracy's family from 1:00-4:00, then Tracy dropped Simon off at Lynn's to hang out while we moved everything out of mom's house.   I also couldn't believe how many people helped us move!  Steve's niece Bonnie and her husband Sam brought their truck and trailer.  Then my college friends Andrea and Brian, and a new friend from church, Jon, all helped us move.  We couldn't believe how quickly we were done!  Since then, we've spent the past few nights over there cleaning up, and I can't express how glad I am to be done with it.

I'm now off to the basement!